The senior capstone must be completed by all Classics majors. To fulfill the senior capstone, each major must pass the appropriate sight examinations and the senior seminar. Minors need not take the sight examinations, but they too must pass the senior seminar.

Majors may receive Distinction on the senior capstone. Three factors are taken into account in determining Distinction: the student's average grade on the sight examinations, the quality of his or her research paper for the senior seminar, and his or her overall performance in the senior seminar. To be eligible for distinction, a student's average grade across these three categories must be B+ (87 percent) or higher; moreover, in each of the three categories, a minimum grade of B (83 percent) is required. (In other words, a score of B- or lower on any category renders a student ineligible for Distinction. An individual sight exam score of B- or lower is allowed, as long as the category total equals a B.) At the department's discretion, other aspects of a student's previous course-work may also be taken into account.

The Senior Seminar

CLAS 471: Senior Seminar in Classics

In this capstone course, senior majors and minors come together to study a facet of the ancient world and undertake research projects that reflect the wide-ranging interests of the department's students.

The opportunity to collaborate with both majors and minors is a distinctive feature of our department’s senior seminar. Each student brings a unique experience in classics to this discussion course, which is grounded in both primary evidence from the ancient world and modern scholarship on this evidence. Together students will engage with the topic under study, as well as analyze how scholars in the field approach ancient texts and material culture, build arguments, and communicate with one another. As a culmination of this collective work and the work done during each individual’s path through the major or minor, students will pursue independent research on a related topic of their choice.